be able to prove it."
"Ah, I wish I could help you!" was his fervent declaration. "He was myfriend, you know. Perhaps the real truth may be known some day, butuntil then we can only wait, and he must bear his unjust punishment."
"But it is a crying scandal that he should have been degraded when he isinnocent!" declared the daughter of the Minister of War.
"Your father, no doubt, ordered the most searching inquiry. It isstrange that, if he is really innocent, his innocence has not beenproved."
"You are quite right," she said. "That very fact is always puzzlingme."
"There may be some reason why he has been consigned to prison," remarkedthe diplomatist, thoughtfully twisting his champagne-glass by the stem,"some reason of State, of which we are ignorant."
"But my father would never willingly be party to such an injustice."
"Probably not; but what seems possible is that Solaro is held in prisonby some power greater than your father's--the power of your father'senemies."
She thought deeply over those strange words of his. It almost seemed asthough he were actually in possession of the truth, and yet feared toreveal it to her!
Presently they rose again, and returned to where the cotillon hadcommenced. She did not take part in it, because her heart was too fullfor such frivolities. The young diplomatist had left her at a seat,when almost immediately her father's enemy, Angelo Borselli, approached,and bowed low over her hand.
She knew well how he had endeavoured to ruin and disgrace her father,and how he intended to hold the office of Minister himself; yet, owingto the instructions His Excellency had given her, she treated him withthat clever diplomacy which is innate in woman. In common with herfather, she never allowed him to discern that she entertained theslightest antipathy towards him, and treated him with calm dignity asshe had always done.
Borselli, in ignorance that the Minister was aware of all theramifications of his shrewd scheming, still affected the same friendshipfor Morini and his family, and affected it with a marvellousverisimilitude of truth. One of the cleverest political schemers inEurope, he was unrivalled even by Vito Ricci, who in the past hadperformed marvels of political duplicity. Yet Mary's tact was a matchfor him.
Only three days ago she and her father had dined at his big new mansionin the Via Salaria, and neither man had betrayed any antagonism towardsthe other. It is often so in this modern world of ours. Men whoinwardly hate each other are outwardly the best of friends. NeitherMorini nor Mary had any trust in him, however, for both knew too wellthat he intended by some clever _coup_ one day to deal the blow andtriumph as usurper. Yet both, while wary and silent, masked their truefeelings of suspicion beneath the cloak of indifference andfriendliness.
Having taken a seat beside her, he began to gossip pleasantly, while hisdark eyes were darting quick glances everywhere, when suddenly heasked--
"Is not Jules here? I thought he was commanded here to-night."
"No. To the next ball. He is in Paris," she said simply, withoutdesire to discuss the man to whom she had engaged herself.
"And you do not regret his absence--eh?" remarked the Sicilian in a lowvoice, bringing his sallow, sinister face nearer to hers.
"I do not understand you," she exclaimed, drawing herself up with somehauteur. "What is your insinuation?"
"Nothing," was his low response. "You need not be offended, for I donot mean it in that sense. I merely notice how you are enjoyingyourself this evening during his absence, and the conclusion is butnatural." And his face relaxed into a smile.
"Well," she declared, as across her fair face fell a shadow of quickannoyance, "I consider, general, your remark entirely uncalled for."And she rose stiffly to leave him.
But he only smiled again, a strange, crafty smile, that rendered histhin, sallow face the more forbidding, as he answered in a low voice,speaking almost into her ear, and fixing his eyes on hers--
"I may surely be forgiven as an old friend if I approach the truth inconfidence, signora. You have accepted that man's offer of marriage,but you have done so under direct compulsion. You desire to escape fromyour compact. You see I am aware of the whole truth. Well, there isone way by which you may escape. But recollect that what I tell you isin the strictest secrecy and confidence from your father--from everyone.I speak as your friend. There is a way by which you can avoid makingthis loveless alliance which is naturally distasteful to you--a way bywhich, if you choose to adopt it, you may save yourself!"
She faced the man, her brown eyes meeting his in speechless surprise andwonder at his enigmatical words.
What could he mean?
CHAPTER THIRTY ONE.
IN WHICH A DOUBLE GAME IS PLAYED.
"I do not quite follow you, general," faltered Mary after a brief pause,regarding him with a puzzled air.
"Then let us find a quiet corner where we can be alone, and I willexplain," said Borselli, rising and offering the girl his arm. Bothwere well acquainted with all the ramifications of the splendid stateapartments, the ante-chambers, the winter garden, and the corridors,therefore he led her through the Throne Room to a small apartment at therear of the Hall of the Princess, an elegant little room hung with palegreen silk and the gilt furniture of which bore embroidered on the backsof the chairs the royal crown with the black eagle and white cross ofSavoy.
So cleverly did Angelo Borselli conceal his schemes and his hatreds thatthrough years he had deceived so shrewd and far-seeing a man as hischief Morini. His insinuating address and rather handsome exteriorrendered him, if not welcome in Roman society, at least tolerated, moreespecially as through him recommendations could be made to Morini, whoseword was law on every point concerning the army of Italy. A certaindegree of suspicion and some feeling of awe attended him, though it wasrather in his absence than his presence, for his ready wit and fluentconversation were not calculated to inspire other than agreeablethoughts.
It was only as he cast himself into a chair at her side, hesitating howto put the matter before her, that in the glance of his dark, sparkling,deeply set eyes might have been detected a sinister motive and asearching and eager expression at variance with the frank and joyousmanner of a moment before.
That glance betrayed the depth of the man's cunning.
"You have no love for Dubard," he remarked slowly. "I have watched, andI have seen it plainly. Yet you are engaged to him because he hascompelled you to accept him as your husband. He holds a certain powerover you--when he orders you dare not disobey! Am I not correct?" heasked, looking straight into her brown, wide-open eyes.
She nodded in the affirmative, and a slight sigh escaped her. She wassuspicious of him, but did not recognise the trend of his argument.
"Then let us advance a step further," he said, in the same quiet,serious manner. "It is but natural you desire to escape from him. Heis repugnant to you; perhaps you loathe him, and yet you wear a mask ofpretended happiness! Surely you cannot take up life beside a husbandwhom you secretly despise! You are a woman who desires to love and beloved, a woman who should marry a man worthy your reverence andself-sacrifice," he added, in a voice which seemed to her full of agenuine solicitude for her future.
His attitude was full of mystery. The sudden interest which he--herfather's bitterest enemy--betrayed on her behalf was inexplicable.
"Well," she faltered at last, "and if I really desire to break off myengagement with the count? What course do you suggest?"
"You must break your engagement, signorina," he exclaimed quickly. "Forseveral weeks I have desired to speak plainly and frankly to you, but Ifeared that certain distorted facts having perhaps come to your ears,you might treat me as your enemy rather than your friend. But to-night,finding you alone, I resolved to speak, and, if possible, to save youfrom sacrificing yourself to a man so unworthy of you."
"But I always thought he was your friend!" she exclaimed in surprise,looking straight at the man before her and toying with her big featheredfan.
"We
are friends. We have been guests together under your father's roofin England, you will remember," he admitted. "Yet I entertain too muchrespect for your father and his family to stand by and see you becomethe victim of such a man as Jules Dubard."
"You are his friend, and yet you speak evil of him behind his back!" sheremarked.
"No, I do not speak evil in the least. You misunderstand my motive. Itis in the interests of your own well-being and future happiness. Wemust not allow that man to force you into an odious union. He isclever, but you must outwit him. Your duty to yourself is to do so."
"But how can I?" she asked, with a desperation in her voice that cameinvoluntarily, but which revealed to Borselli her eagerness to escapefrom the web which Dubard had weaved